Aliphatic polycarbonates (APCs) derived from the copolymerization of carbon dioxide and epoxides are emerging as promising green polymers. The incorporation of CO2 which accounts for up to 50% of the polymer mass has environmental advantages versus traditional polymers derived solely from petrochemical feedstocks.
The CO2 based polymers have good gas barrier properties and therefore there is interest in using them in packaging applications where oxygen barrier properties are prized. Despite this interest, it is very difficult to use a new polymer as a drop-in replacement for existing commodity polymer since mismatches in physical properties or polymer processing parameters, cannot be tolerated. Therefore, there is particular interest in blends of APCs with existing commodity polymers. Such blends can benefit from the improved gas barrier properties of APCs while allowing use of existing processing equipment. One high value application for APCs is in blends with polyolefins such as polyethylene and polypropylene. The blended materials have improved oxygen barrier properties relative to polyolefins alone and process similarly to the neat polyolefins. Nevertheless, it can be a challenge to produce APC polyolefins blends since the two materials are not always compatible. Therefore, there remains a need for effective compatibilizers for APCs and polyolefins.